Google won’t remove hate preachers’ rants

GOOGLE last night refused to remove vile YouTube rants by the hate preachers who inspired the London Bridge killers.

A series of tirades by Ahmad Musa Jibril and Abu Haleema are easily accessible on the video sharing site.

They used the Google-owned video platform to spread the warped messages that helped turn 27-year-old Khuram Butt into a fanatic bent on mass slaughter.

In the videos, they told followers to make ‘enemies’ out of all kuffar [non-believers], and instructed Islamists not to grieve for terror victims. They also branded moderate Muslims as ‘malignant tumours’ in the Islamic community, and denounced the London Mayor Sadiq Khan – a Muslim – as kuffar. According to a friend of Khuram Butt, he was obsessed with Jibril, and became radicalised after watching YouTube videos of the preacher.

He was also an associate of Haleema, appearing alongside him in last year’s Channel 4 documentary, the Jihadis Next Door.

The hate preacher’s videos have been watched more than a million times, and won warped comments of approval from viewers, one of whom wrote: ‘Kuffar must [and] will be eliminated.’

But Google has refused to remove them, insisting they did not break its own rules. Last night, terror experts accused the US technology giant of ‘colluding’ with hate preachers. Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said there was ‘no question at all’ that the material should be removed.

‘[The technology companies] bear clear moral responsibility for the harm that is done. They collude in the Islamist incitement.’ He said the security services should disrupt these channels of communication.

Last night, a YouTube spokesman said it wanted to work with the government in Britain. He said: ‘We take our role in combating the spread of extremist material very seriously. YouTube has clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence, and we act quickly to remove videos violating these. We also terminate accounts run by terrorist organisations or those that repeatedly violate our policies.’

In one video by Jibril and Haleema, still on YouTube. Jibril, a Palestinian-American cleric, denounced religious tolerance and condemned Muslims who feel sympathy for victims of terror attacks.

In another, watched more than 41,000 times, Jibril tells his followers: ‘[There are] malignant tumours within this umma [Muslim community] crying for the causes of others. The least worst Muslim dying anywhere in the world is more worthy of mourning and attention than the best kaffir.’

Haleema said in a video posted on the day of the 2016 Brussels attack: ‘Don’t try and be like the kuffar [non-believer]. Do not grieve over them.’